Mamoru Nagano

Mamoru Nagano(永野 護,Nagano Mamoru?, born January 21, 1960) is a Japanese manga artist, animator, and mecha designer.

Born in Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, he is noted for his work with anime studio Sunrise, with his work in Heavy Metal L-Gaim introducing mecha with armor plates that appeared to fit loosely over an internal skeleton. These detailed and somewhat plausible designs sparked a fresh wave of designs in mecha anime. From there, Nagano went on to design elegant and graceful mecha for his manga The Five Star Stories that displayed elongated lines, delicate curves and a degree of decoration and detail that appealed to the imaginations of a generation of mecha fans. Nagano can be called an innovator in the field of mecha design. He has also contributed to the mecha designs of Zeta Gundam. Among his contributions were the Rick Dias and Hyakushiki.

Nagano made his professional debut in 1984 working with Yoshiyuki Tomino on the TV series Heavy Metal L-Gaim. Fool for the City, his first manga, came out in 1985 but it was 1986 that brought The Five Star Stories, which is still in production today. Nagano founded Toys Press, Inc. to publish much of his work. Nagano is a very versatile man and has been a professional artist, manga writer, musician and fashion designer. Some of his art books show him dressed up as Minako Aino from Sailor Moon for cosplay.

Nagano is also the co-author (along with Kunihiko Ikuhara) and illustrator of Schell Bullet, a novel in two volumes.

Currently he is working on a new anime called Gothicmade,[1] with studio Automatic Flowers. He will be working as the producer, director, chief writer, character and mechanical designer for the series.